The desperate need to believe

[revots33]

Why is it that humans are so desperate to believe in a higher power? Why do otherwise intelligent people turn off their rational minds and believe whatever some guy in a robe tells them to? Is it because they think life is meaningless without some spirit to worship? Fear of nothingness after death? Need to feel special?

I thought about this when I saw these pictures:

Virgin Mary in an office building window (http://home.snafu.de/tilman/clearwater1998/mary12-11A.jpg)
Another picture (http://www.revelation13.net/MaryClearw.jpg)

Related news story. (http://www.tldm.org/News/flock.htm)

I mean, come on now... chairs in the parking lot? A shrine and crucifix? Thousands making a pilgrimage? To see what any rational person knows are some streaks on a nondescript office building?

This is the type of thing that makes me think that no matter how far human science or intelligence progresses, religion will never be eliminated. People are just desperate to believe, to the point of insanity, almost.

[txag007]

[ QUOTE ]
Why is it that humans are so desperate to believe in a higher power? Why do otherwise intelligent people turn off their rational minds and believe whatever some guy in a robe tells them to? Is it because they think life is meaningless without some spirit to worship? Fear of nothingness after death? Need to feel special?

This is the type of thing that makes me think that no matter how far human science or intelligence progresses, religion will never be eliminated. People are just desperate to believe, to the point of insanity, almost.

[/ QUOTE ]
Because the idea that you could be wrong certainly isn't a possibility...

Lol. Ten days ago, revots, you wrote this (http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showthreaded.php?Cat=0&Board=scimathphil&Number=76 17470&Searchpage=2&Main=7607532&Words=revots33&top ic=&Search=true#Post7617470):

"My problem is more with the absolute certainty, which I find unsettling."

[ojc02]

txaq, are you prepared for the possibility that you could be wrong?

[Hopey]

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txaq, are you prepared for the possibility that you could be wrong?

[/ QUOTE ]

He'll never know. When he dies and his consciousness blinks off into nothingness, he'll have no idea that the time and energy he poured into his faith was all for naught. There will be no one to point at him and say "I told you so!" It's almost unfair, actually.

[FortunaMaximus]

[ QUOTE ]
txaq, are you prepared for the possibility that you could be wrong?

[/ QUOTE ]

He doesn't need to be. He's prepared for the possibility that he's right and assigns it a higher probability than most of you do.

Argentum, indeed.

[AthenianStranger]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
txaq, are you prepared for the possibility that you could be wrong?

[/ QUOTE ]

He'll never know. When he dies and his consciousness blinks off into nothingness, he'll have no idea that the time and energy he poured into his faith was all for naught. There will be no one to point at him and say "I told you so!" It's almost unfair, actually.

[/ QUOTE ]

Haha! the joke's on you!

[Hopey]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
txaq, are you prepared for the possibility that you could be wrong?

[/ QUOTE ]

He'll never know. When he dies and his consciousness blinks off into nothingness, he'll have no idea that the time and energy he poured into his faith was all for naught. There will be no one to point at him and say "I told you so!" It's almost unfair, actually.

[/ QUOTE ]

Haha! the joke's on you!

[/ QUOTE ]

See? It's not fair! I'd like to be the first in line to laugh at AS when he discovers that there's no heaven...but I'll never get the chance...because his last thought will be "Heaven, here I come!" and then *poof*...nothing.

On top of that he'll have the comfort that he's "going to a better place" at the moment of his death (which is the whole point of religion, after all)...but the rest of us won't even have that. Again, I say, it's not fair.

[Prodigy54321]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
txaq, are you prepared for the possibility that you could be wrong?

[/ QUOTE ]

He'll never know. When he dies and his consciousness blinks off into nothingness, he'll have no idea that the time and energy he poured into his faith was all for naught. There will be no one to point at him and say "I told you so!" It's almost unfair, actually.

[/ QUOTE ]

Haha! the joke's on you!

[/ QUOTE ]

ZOMG death is rigged!!

[hmkpoker]

When you consider the vast, vast, vast varieties of random visual phenomena in the world, the chances that they will occasionally represent something like Jesus or Mary to the level of specificity displayed in that image, such coincidences are bound to occur. Probably frequently.

[madnak]

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Again, I say, it's not fair.

[/ QUOTE ]

Isn't that the core of it? Life isn't fair. How surprising is it that so many people want to believe otherwise?

[revots33]

[ QUOTE ]
Because the idea that you could be wrong certainly isn't a possibility...

Lol. Ten days ago, revots, you wrote this:

"My problem is more with the absolute certainty, which I find unsettling."


[/ QUOTE ]

I am not certain there is no god. But since I see no evidence, I'm not going to believe just because people tell me it's so. (Already did that for most of my life.)

I also see no evidence that a bunch of random reflections on a window is some sort of message from the virgin mary. But if for some reason I needed to believe it, I'm sure I could convince myself just like the thousands of pilgrims to the parking lot.

I just find it remarkable how many people cling to these "signs" when they happen. It says something, I think, about how deep-rooted the need to believe is in many people. People are searching for some kind of sign that god is real. Since they never get one, they'll take whatever they can find.

Here's another one!:
Mary stain on underpass. (http://www.totalobscurity.com/blog/mary-underpass.jpg)
Related story. (http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/04/20/national/main689630.shtml)

And let's not forget the Virgin Mary toast! (http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/newsid_4030000/newsid_4039800/4039835.stm)

[madnak]

[ QUOTE ]
Mary stain on underpass. (http://www.totalobscurity.com/blog/mary-underpass.jpg)

[/ QUOTE ]

Huh? To me that looks like a giant vagina. I guess we all see what we want to see /images/graemlins/tongue.gif

[FortunaMaximus]

I'm sure the toast wasn't buttered either /images/graemlins/smirk.gif

[thesnowman22]

Some people are not desperate, but believe anyway. This assumption that all people who are religous are desperate or idiots or afraid of dying etc. is wrong. To lump everyone together is wrong. I would even say that I know few Christians who are "desperate" to beleive. each persons reasons for their personal beliefs is different.

[MidGe]

The thing that really gets me is how they identify it as Mary and not Suzy, Jesus and not Bob, for instance. I didn't know there were existent life photos/portraits of Mary or Jesus for that matter to know this for sure.

PS the same applies to visions etc... ah well, if you want to believe! /images/graemlins/smile.gif

[vhawk01]

[ QUOTE ]
Some people are not desperate, but believe anyway. This assumption that all people who are religous are desperate or idiots or afraid of dying etc. is wrong. To lump everyone together is wrong. I would even say that I know few Christians who are "desperate" to beleive. each persons reasons for their personal beliefs is different.

[/ QUOTE ]

Not to dismiss this out of hand, but how can you be so certain you know the reasons why they really believe? I dont think he means desperate in some obvious way, necessarily. Judging their desperateness by their actions, rather than by their stated reasons for belief, seems the better course of action.

[revots33]

[ QUOTE ]
Some people are not desperate, but believe anyway. This assumption that all people who are religous are desperate or idiots or afraid of dying etc. is wrong. To lump everyone together is wrong. I would even say that I know few Christians who are "desperate" to beleive. each persons reasons for their personal beliefs is different.

[/ QUOTE ]

I understand that not all Christians would make a pilgrimage to see some dirt on an underpass or pray before a streaky window. I think most wouldn't.

But in an online poll I saw, 42% of respondents said that "appearances" such as these were NOT a coincidence. In other words, almost half think that SOMEONE (god presumably) put that dirt on the underpass wall, or burned that toast, etc. This is not just a few religious kooks we're talking about. Why would so many believe this? I can see no other reason than that they really, really WANT to believe it.

I never said that all religious people are idiots. I am only stating my observation, which is that the human need to believe must be incredibly strong if such a large number of intelligent people can take these sort of sightings seriously. I think it illustrates how so many religions can continue to flourish on earth when there is zero evidence that any of them are correct.